The Western Australian Government has an historic opportunity to do away with outdated and unnecessary laws that prevent trans and gender diverse people from being recognised as who they are, according to a submission by Transfolk of WA together with the Human Rights Law Centre.

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed new changes to proposed electoral laws that had originally threatened to shut charities out of public policy debates, yet called for further improvements in a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry.

Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities struggling under the Australian Government’s racially discriminatory remote work for the dole program would be worse off under a proposed new penalty system, a Senate Committee inquiry has been told.

The Australian Government should not be allowed to pick and choose what detention facilities can be scrutinised under the UN anti-torture treaty, the Human Rights Law Centre said in a submission to the Human Rights Commission.

The Queensland Parliament should demonstrate its commitment to women’s health and equality by passing a bill to modernise the state’s woefully outdated abortion laws the Human Right Law Centre said in a submission to a parliamentary committee today.

The Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 would decriminalise abortion, respect a woman’s right to choose up to 22 weeks of pregnancy and create safe access zones around abortion clinics.

Young people, who are most likely to feel the long-term effects of today’s political decisions, should be allowed to vote from the age of 16, the Human Right Law Centre said today in a submission to the Australian Parliament’s electoral committee.

Stronger oversight and compliance measures are needed to ensure the Government’s new modern slavery legislation is effective in combating forced labour, the Human Rights Law Centre said today in a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

The Human Rights Law Centre told a Parliamentary Committee that the federal government’s proposed new powers to undertake facial recognition identification and surveillance are dangerously overbroad, and could dramatically alter the freedom of ordinary people going about their daily lives. New laws proposed by the Department of Home Affairs would authorise the creation of a “dragnet database”, compiling images of innocent Australians – including children – from their drivers’ licences, identification cards and passport photos.

This submission responds to the Queensland Law Reform Commission's review of termination of pregnancy laws. Queensland has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to women's health and equality by comprehensively reforming the state's outdated abortion laws, which are hopelessly out of step with community standards and clinical practice. Queensland should reform its abortions laws to ensure safe and equitable access to abortion services for women for years to come and to respect women as competent decision-makers over their bodies and lives.

The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed to the government’s proposed secrecy laws put forward by the Attorney-General’s Department, but warned that significant work still needs to be done to bring the bill into line with principles of freedom of expression and open government. Following an earlier written submission and evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, the HRLC has responded to these amendments in a supplementary submission to the Committee’s inquiry into the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017.